Olympic biker climbs long road back

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) - Travis Brown was blazing over a World Cup mountain bike course in Mazatlan, Mexico, when he took a fast corner and saw a tree through the thick dust.

There was no time to avoid the impact.

''My bike went around one side of the tree and I went around the other,'' Brown said after riding in a pro mountain bike race Friday at Deer Valley Resort.

The collision was in April.

As Brown lay waiting for surgery on his fractured left shin, he recalled how a broken collarbone had denied him a ride in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

''I was in the basement as far as morale goes,'' said Brown, a 30-year-old rider from Boulder, Colo. ''I wondered what it meant that the only two injuries in my career happened in Olympic years. But it worked out.''

Sure, it worked out.

Earlier this month, Brown capped an abbreviated racing season and a remarkable comeback by being named to the two-man United States mountain bike team for the Sydney Olympics.

''His injury came early in the racing season,'' U.S. coach Stephane Girard said. ''I'm sure he was thinking that history would repeat.

"He was pretty scared, but he recovered as he went. That was key.''

Brown didn't waste time feeling sorry for himself. With his left leg in a brace immediately after surgery, he was concerned his right leg would weaken without exercise.

So he propped his bulky, injured leg on a stool and pedaled an exercise bike with his healthy leg.

A few days later, without the brace, he put a short crank on the left side and pedaled using both legs.

''That process to get blood circulating through an injury isn't very common, but I think it was a big part of why I was able to heal so fast,'' Brown said.

After a few weeks, he pedaled using a full-length crank. One month after surgery, Brown went outside for road training even through at that point he still couldn't walk.

''My girlfriend would push me out of the driveway,'' Brown said. ''I was fine as long as I was rolling.''

Fortunately for Brown, his two doctors were former cyclists who sympathized with his Olympic aspirations.

''My doctors were quite liberal about letting me push my rehab,'' Brown said. ''They said, 'OK, you can do some of this. But if you go out and get hurt, we didn't recommend it.'''

In June, Brown entered two World Cup races in Canada, knowing that U.S. Cycling officials would use the results in selecting the American Olympic team.

He placed 20th in each race, the top American each time.

''He was fresh, he was fit and he was hungry,'' Girard said. ''He really wanted to race.''

Brown has a 4-inch scar on his knee and after the Olympics surgeons will remove two screws.

For now, the screws hold a wallet-sized piece of shin bone that was crushed by his kneecap.

The important thing to Brown is he'll race in the games.

''I started thinking about Sydney when I got hurt just before the Atlanta Olympics,'' Brown said. ''It was definitely one of my best coping mechanisms.''